In the March of 1997, the Retrospective Exhibition of Du Yongqiao’s Art was opened in Sichuan Fine Arts Institute (Chongqing). Mr. Du is an old painter who has been engaged in art for nearly half a century. This exhibition, as his first individual one, showed over 130 pieces of his oil and watercolor works from 1950s to 1990s. In the May of the same year, the exhibition was held in Sichuan Art Museum (Chengdu) by an invitation from Sichuan Artists Association.

　　During the exhibition both in Chongqing and Chengdu, symposia were held one after another. Here are the abstracts of sound recording.

　　Mei Zhongzhi(梅忠智), a traditional Chinese painter and a vice professor of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute: I think the oil painting of Mr. Du is firstly tasteful and secondly inspirited. I had for six or seven years stayed in Japan, a small country with 54 art museums. Seeing his oil painting today makes me recall the mass housed paintings in the museums, especially the exhibition of the Northern European oil paintings from the middle ages to the modern time I saw in Japan in 1994. I can surely say his art is so genuine and so pure that he can be completely compared to the great masters of the older generations in Europe. What’s more, both his painting quality and his moral quality, in addition to his thorough and thorough spirit, convince me in the mind. I feel his influence is the same great whether he holds or not holds the exhibition.

　　Lin Mu(林木), a historian of fine arts and a vice professor of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute: The exhibition is significant to prove that the art of painting indeed needs to resume the purity of the visual language. Mr. Du’s painting is not philosophic at all, yet it is very charming. His color is exclaimed in great surprise, enough to shake your soul! If you see his painting with magnifying glass, every piece is changeful in fine colors. How rare the painters are who can use colors so minute in the whole country, let alone in the Southwest of China! How few painters there are whose brush touches are so subtle but forceful and changeful in the modern world of oil painting! Just appropriately does he express the colors of the western oil painting and the soul of the Chinese traditional one. Thus incisively and vividly does he express a sort of art from the West with the feeling of a Chinese and with a strong characteristic of China. This gives a good lesson to the people who stiffly follow the suite of the West. Undoubtedly Mr. Du is the most excellent oil painter all over the country, but our institute oppresses him again and again, having never held an exhibition for any talented artist like him. Why do we not create more chances to extend such a fine art?

　　He Jizhu(何继笃), a traditional Chinese painter, president of Chengdu Academy of Painting: The art of Mr. Du and his teaching indeed influence many artists of generations, which is a fact incontrovertible in our art world. His art accomplishment gets a higher level and does not decline even if he is over 60 years old. This is very special among painters. The exhibition causes such a stir—in the 1990s such a stir is less and less—that it certainly proves his art really stands up for the history checkout. I can say his art is immortal, and I believe time will prove this.

　　Hu Renqiao(胡仁樵), an oil painter: As everyone knows Mr. Du suffers a lot. He is a rare talented painter being not supported but oppressed. It injures not only Mr. Du himself, but also the Chinese culture and art. In China, a big country with a large population, there are few talented painters like him.

　　I feel his art—being a unique style of his own—is completely perfect with his color and his brushwork extremely outstanding. And I also feel his unique style has got the highest degree of professional proficiency. Today when the modernisms prevail everywhere, his art can still actually get highly appraised, which surely explains that any art can stand up in front of history only if it can be carried thoroughly and perfectly.

　　Jian Chongmin(简崇民), an oil painter: Mr. Du has been listed as an undesirable for years. When I recall it, I always feel he is absolutely a victim. How can he insist on till today if he does not love painting with his whole heart? It is because of him that the painters of five or six generations from Sichuan Fine Arts Institute come together. All of them are sincerely convinced for his works no matter which approach they present, which school they belong to and how famous they are.

　　In my memory, Mr. Du gave me a perfect impression. How few are such teachers like him! He in those years taught us hand in hand, unselfishly and with sincerity. I realized later that how little and how rare such sincerity is in the world! Now that we all recognize Mr. Du is very excellent both in his art and in his personality, let us do not just look him becoming the second Chen Zizhuang, an excellent painter almost not known in his life but only after his death. The painters simple, honest and kind like Mr. Du can not repeat the miserable fate of Chen Zizhuang, only if they could get supported from the sides.

　　Mr. Du has never sent any of his paintings to Beijing to win an award, nor has he sold his works with a million dollar, but he has got a higher reputation in the mind of the painters in the country. The reason is that his painting is a purified art. He does not care about what the governments like, what the merchants like and what the markets like. What he cares about is to really paint with his conscience and his faith. This is the secret he can get to a higher level in art.

　　Qian Laizhong(钱来忠), a traditional Chinese painter and a secretary of Sichuan Association of Literature and Art: We, the people of Sichuan, are proud of such excellent artists like Du Yongqiao and Chen Zizhuang. Why does Chen come to be famous at last? There are a lot of his students, and a lot of his admirers. It is they that explain and summarize his art so much that Chen is publicized. I, therefore, think if a painter wants his art to pass down, he must has a group of passers without whom the artist’s contribution is hard to be known in society and his achievement is likely to be buried. Mr. Du, a very excellent artist, is more and more influential, but it seems that his unique art lacks passers. For this reason, I advise Mr. Du to set up a workshop in order to pass his art to new comers.

　　Lu Shuzhong(吕树中), a printer and a professor of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute: A so thorough and thorough exhibition is not seen for a long time! The art accomplishment of Mr. Du has been obvious to all, but in his life he has been holding only this one exhibition on which his works are admired greatly once striking a pose. Now, all the ones in the art circle seem to be busy publishing their albums or holding their exhibitions but few of them get their expectative results. I feel quite a lot on his exhibition.

　　His color accomplishment is admitted by everyone, and his unique painting stroke is worth of a careful study. The nationalization of oil painting has advocated for years and years, but it is hard to see a successful example. Du’s oil painting is a Chinese one. The usage of his brush is changeful with a special flavor of the Chinese traditional freehand brushwork while the manner of his oil painting is pure and nature. This is a real creation from which we can see how profound his accomplishment is in both the Chinese traditional painting and the western oil painting. It is commendable for him to paint so naturally and so perfectly.

　　Zhang Jie(张杰), an oil painter and a vice professor of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute: In China today, if a painter wants to hold an exhibition he must experience some troubles: such as to hold talks and pay the rent. But Mr. Du did not this time. Sichuan Fine Arts Institute and Sichuan Artists Association invited him one after another on their own initiatives, and they made an exception to discharge his rent. It is obvious that Mr. Du enjoys a higher reputation. When his exhibition was opened in the Institute, the occasion looked most magnificent. Everywhere in the exhibition hall were crowded the dense people. Until the symposium was held, the hall was still jammed hard to be passable. I have watched many exhibitions in home and abroad, but never have I seen such a sight!

　　Now it is a time when art is diversified and there frequently are sorts of art activities. Among so many exhibitions, why is Mr. Du’s so noticeable? Why do those who admire modernisms worship Mr. Du at the same time? I feel deeply that whenever an artist lives, he can certainly be accepted as long as he can do his work perfectly. Mr. Du has no genius for words, for social contact or for publicity, but he has moved generations depending just on the power of his works.

　　Luo Li(罗立), an oil painter and the head of the Education Department of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute: In these years I have for many times advised Mr. Du to hold an exhibition, but I am failed because he is not willing. This time his exhibition is held at last completely depending on some friends who have persuaded him time and time again. His exhibition produced a big influence once it was opened. Every day, there are huge crowds of people, and there even are some who call to ask for putting off the exhibition. Seeing the high-level works, the spectators begin to ask: Why is there never such a high-quality exhibition? Why has never Mr. Du held his exhibition until his retirement? I feel the answers lie in the so-called Phenomenon of Du Yongqiao.

　　He has for years paid his attention only to one thing: to paint. He does never care about fame or gain, nor is he good at everyday affairs or interpersonal relations. Mr. Du has influenced generations in art and teaching. His painting is mysterious but marvelous, worthy of a further study and of being carried forward. I can say Mr. Du is one of the best painters in our country. Such a painter may come into being for one hundred years. This saying is not too much because I know many people do think so. But I feel a bit of pity that there are only a few knowing his original works.

　　Zhou Chunyia(周春芽), an oil painter: I had already heard of Mr. Du’s name before I learnt to paint. Later when I saw his original works, I was shocked in my mind, feeling convinced sincerely. And later on, the more I knew painting, the greater I felt his painting is. In my mind, Mr. Du undoubtedly is a real pure artist! His painting style has influenced many people of generations. Wherever you go, you can feel his deep influence: people admire him when his name is mentioned. I feel his influence will be greater and greater.

　　Li Jinyuan(李金远), a traditional Chinese painter and a professor of the Fine Arts College of Sichuan Normal University: I had not seen Mr. Du before, but I had felt his art’s power universally existing in the art world, not only in the oil painting circle or among the watercolor painters. In fact, a group of well-known traditional Chinese painters admit they benefit from his art although they are not taught directly by Mr. Du. These traditional Chinese painters began to paint from the western oil painting, but their color usage and their art language present the style of Mr. Du even till today. Possibly it is hard for those who take oil painting to imagine how the group and I respect him. Our appreciation comes out fully from our deepest mind. Whether one’s art is good or bad, there will naturally be fair judgment upon. The fact is not that the hotter its publicity is the more respectful it is; only so think the puzzled laymen.

　　Zhang Ziqi(张自启), a traditional Chinese painter and a professor of the Fine Arts College of Sichuan University: The painting of Mr. Du is excellent whether from his colors or from the expression of his feeling. My son is a young painter so I have chances to contact with the young among whom many are engaged in avant-garde arts. None of them are not convinced with Du’s art. I feel it is really great for him to do so! In fact everyone knows: all the people—whether they are the older generation or the younger generation, whether they are engage in the traditional paintings or the avant-garde arts—are deeply convinced for his colors. Not all the spectators today are engaged in the western oil painting; some of them are engaged in the traditional Chinese painting, or in sculpture, or in design, and the like. But all of them are devoted to enjoying his works. This is not like many other exhibitions on which people present out of their politeness in the social intercourse. Mr. Du’s painting is so charming in any time that I feel it will be a big loss either for the painter himself or for the society if his art is not learnt on time.

　　Li Deqing(李德清), (通讯)the chief editor of Sichuan Fine Arts: Free and expressive, the art of Mr. Du represents his profound cultivation both in color and in sketch. It is very appreciable to be able to combine the two, and what’s more, he has set up a color system with his own style. In our vast country, there is an enormous team of painters, but there are few who can gain an accomplishment in color like Mr. Du. No wonder I have for times heard lots of scholars and painting critics say that he is “a master of color in the Southwest and even around the country who can come into being only in one hundred years.” Everyone thinks the criticism is hard to be overthrown if Mr. Du has a chance to be listed in the masters of color in the China history. But it is a pity that we have no corresponding chance to speak because of the complicated situation of our country. In addition, I also think we should discuss and study the Phenomenon of Du Yongqiao. Standing aloof from the worldly affairs, he devotes himself to painting without any publicity, but he has gained a higher reputation than the painters who are diligent in publicity and in fashion. This is a true revelation for our painting world.

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